With their victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night, the Milwaukee Bucks moved to 11-9 at what essentially amounts to the quarter-mark of the 2017-'18 season.

It's been an up-and-down start for the Bucks, with the opening 20 games featuring both a four-game wining streak as well as a four-game losing streak. There have been nights when the team demonstrated why it has expectations of being a top-four team in the Eastern Conference and other nights when onlookers struggle to comprehend the clunker they just witnessed.

Here's a look at the good and bad of Milwaukee's opening quarter and reactions from inside the locker room as the Bucks head into Saturday's 7:30 p.m. game against the Sacramento Kings at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

THE GOOD

THE GREEK FREAK: The NBA's reigning most improved player has continued his ascent. Giannis Antetokounmpo picked up where he left off, sparking a bevy of early features nationwide about how he had officially established himself as a possible MVP candidate — not sometime in the future, but now.

Through the first 20 games, Antetokounmpo ranks second in the NBA in player efficiency rating behind only Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James and second in points per game (29.2) behind Houston Rockets guard James Harden (31.5). Antetokounmpo's is also in the top 15 in the NBA in rebounds (13th), steals (11th) and blocks (4th) per game and leads the league in points in the paint.

ADDITION: The Bucks have gone 7-3 since the acquisition of point guard Eric Bledsoe from the Phoenix Suns on Nov. 7. His overall performance has been as advertised, with the 6-foot-1 guard adding another player who can push the pace and create his own shots on offense while pestering opposing guards defensively, disrupting passing lanes and holding his own on the perimeter to curtail drives before they get into the teeth of Milwaukee's defense.

By most metrics, the Bucks are clearly better when Bledsoe is on the court than when he is not, which is exactly what you want to see when you bring in a player making a total of $29 million over this season and the next.

BALL SECURITY: Last season, the Bucks averaged 14.0 turnovers per game. They've kept that same average this season — which may not seem like a positive — but thus far turnovers are up across the league and Milwaukee's average ranks as the third-lowest.

THE BAD

DEFENSE: There's no question the Bucks' most troublesome area thus far has been its defense, though there have been signs of improvement. In the midst of their four-game losing streak, the Bucks seemed incapable of stopping anyone as their defensive rating slipped down to the bottom of the league.

They were failing to stop drives and giving up lots of points at the rim, overhelping on the perimeter and giving up wide open three-pointers — opponents lead the league in three-point shooting percentage against the Bucks at 39.7% — and failing to give consistent effort on that end, often with their struggles coinciding with their offense getting out of whack.

Milwaukee's recent play against the Trail Blazers and Kings bodes well for the health of the defense, which is now in the middle of the pack in defensive rating. However, lapses have happened plenty of times before — getting drubbed by 32 points by the Dallas Mavericks to end a four-game win streak, for example — and the Bucks' defense will be something to keep an eye on going forward.

HACK-A-THON: Teams spend a lot of time at the free throw line when playing against the Bucks. Milwaukee commits an average of 22.7 fouls per game, the second-most in the NBA.

That's led to 25.0 free-throw attempts per contest for Bucks opponents, the fourth-most in the NBA. That high number of free-throw attempts has correlated to a free-throw rate (free throw attempts divided by field goal attempts) that ranks second in the league, just a shade behind the Philadelphia 76ers,.

DIRTY GLASS: The Bucks may be Team All-Length, but that size isn't translating to rebounds, something that the team has struggled with for years.

Milwaukee ranks last in the NBA in rebounds per game, dragged down by its league-worst 17.5% offensive rebounding percentage. The Bucks emphasize getting back on defense to stop transition attempts over getting offensive rebounds, but they're also in the bottom third of the NBA in defensive rebounding percentage (76.7%).

REACTIONS

Here's what Bucks coach Jason Kidd and some players had to say about the opening quarter of the season.

JASON KIDD: “It’s been good. We’re a young team that is trying to get better, understanding that expectations are off the chart and just understanding how to handle that. You’re not a surprise. Everybody’s going to try to play their best game against you. I think the guys have done a really good job of understanding how to handle that.”

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: “We’ve got a long way to go. We can get a lot better. We’re not even close to our potential as a team.”

KHRIS MIDDLETON: “A little slower than we wanted to, but you know we’re hanging in there. It’s a long season, like J Kidd says it’s always a marathon. Got to keep building and keep growing.”

MALCOLM BROGDON: “I think we’ve done well. I think we’ve had some letdowns but as a whole I think we’ve bounced back. Right now we just finished a really good road trip that I think we would have struggled on a little bit last year. I’m happy with where we’re at, but we’ve got to continue to work.”

JOHN HENSON: “We could be better. We’re not in the hole, which is where we’re usually in by now. We’ve just got to play this out until all-star break and keep getting over .500, keep getting our lead in the playoffs and try to get home-court advantage and go from there.”